The length of one piece of rope is $4$ inches more than twice the length of a shorter piece. If the length of the longer piece is $26$ inches, what is the length, in inches, of the shorter piece?
Explanation: Let $a$ be the length of the shorter piece, and $b$ be the length of the longer piece of rope. We have that $b=4+2a$ and $b=26$. Substituting, we have that $22=2a$, so $a=\boxed{11}\text{ inches}$.